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This paper reviews the recent developments concerning the methods allowing the estimation of ground shaking site effects in a particular site, as well as the main lessons learnt about their physics by the numerous studies performed in recent years. Instrumental as well as numerical approaches are considered, and their respective advantages and limitations are discussed, in particular in view of the findings of two internatio-nal blind tests. Recent learnings about the physics of site effects concern mainly the actual importance of wave diffraction on near surface irregularities and of the nonlinear behaviour of soft deposits under strong shaking Attention is drawn on the drastic lack of dense arrays dedicated to investigations on site effects in Europe.